Vivint Employees Speak Out

Occasionally at Alarm System Reviews.Com, we receive helpful reviews and "inside info" emails from employees of home security companies (Usually former salespeople, monitoring staff or customer service reps). Some wish to defend their employers, others might want to confirm an alarm company's less than stellar reputation. We found these comments from APX (now Vivint) employees to be especially helpful / informative, and decided they deserved their own page on the site:"There is a very high employee turnover rate at Vivint Tech support, and with good reason.
I was recently terminated seven days before my last scheduled day of work, with no apparent infraction of company policy. My grounds for dismal were that my call score quality wasn't improving, although my individual scores themselves weren't bad. My other stats were, for the most part, solid".I would like to think that my experience was an isolated case, but better sense indicates otherwise. I saw other employees suddenly disappear during my stay there. Vivint is a sort of contradiction that offers employee ?perks? such as volleyball tournaments and free lunch, while failing to actually appreciate its employees or offer a feeling of job security. I was afraid I'd lose my job my entire stay there and I did everything I could to adhere to company policy and perform my duties best I could to avoid any grounds for dismissal. However, with any ?at will? employment no grounds for dismissal are needed.
All employees at Vivint have to avoid ?occurrences? such as being late to work or missing work without calling in. This is normal. However, you don't have access to your number of occurrences without asking a supervisor, and simple implements, such as break/lunch timers, which once existed and could help employees reduce their occurrences have been disabled. Although this was not a problem for me, it was a common complaint.
You also have two of your calls listened in on each week, and scored. A call score is based on how much confidence the tech support agent shows in their ability to solve the problem, how much empathy they show the customer, their technical knowledge, and their inclusion of key phrases in the call. These scores are fairly subjective, and are graded very harshly. It is entirely possible to have a satisfied customer and still a low score on your call. This happened many times. I was marked down for things such as, ?I don't know the answer to that question, but I can get you in touch with a department that can help with you with that? because I used the phrase, ?I don't know?.
While working there I spoke with many other employees, and I believe about half of them shared my sentiments. Some people seemed to fit right in and really excel. Many others were actively looking for a job elsewhere.
Vivint was smart in locating its headquarters in a college town where a steady influx of new, unknowing students arrive each fall. It will pick up some of these students in their employment fairs, employ them for a while, and get rid of them whenever they want.
To be fair, I also discovered while working there that customers can be unreasonable at times, and often don't read their contracts carefully. I was amused one day when a customer yelled at me because I wouldn't send a tech out to replace the batteries in her key remote. However, Vivint continuous to be wasteful and slightly deceptive. For example, they've instructed other departments to refer to contracts as ?agreements? because it has a better connotation. However, many customers don't realize this ?agreement? is a contract. Also, when the on-site clinic opened up they spent a ridiculous amount of money to have the life flight helicopter from a nearby hospital stop by for a brief moment before it had to leave again. Do people know their monthly bill is paying for such waste?
The company bombarded me with in-company propaganda from day one. They brag about how much they are growing, and all these awards they've received, with testimonials from people that have been protected. I believe in having pride in my work, but it almost seemed like they were trying to sell themselves to their own employees.
This brings me to perhaps my single largest complaint against them. Vivint wants to be rated as one of the best call centers to work at, and they want this bad. While I was there they asked that all employees submit a short paragraph about what they enjoyed about working at Vivint. When I didn't respond they asked again until I did. A few days latter some people were coming to interview some random employees about their experience at Vivint. At this point a threatening email was sent saying that we should be honest, but if we had any complaints against Vivint we should not mention them in these interviews. If we did management would find out, and it may affect our employment. What company threatens its employees to say they like working there? This should be a self-evident fact. Vivint was obviously a bit nervous about what some people might say.
In conclusion Vivint isn't all bad. There are many honest, hard working people there. However, it has a long way to go before I'd recommend it to anyone as a good place to work. Especially in tech support.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I am a new customer support representative at Vivint. After both having insider knowledge and doing my own research, I have found that most of these complaints are the result of dishonest sales reps. It is true that they sometimes get desperate and say things they shouldn't, but this is also true of every other alarm company that sends salesmen out door-to-door. The fact is, they get greedy for money and forget they are representing a company. This is why I am impressed with the fact that Vivint requires each new customer to verbally answer questions about the contract over the phone with someone at the corporate office. This is a way to make the customer aware of things the sales rep may not have told them, such as the length of the contract, the automatic billing, and so forth. They have to verbally agree say "yes" that they are aware of the terms of the contract, or the system cannot be installed. From that point on, vivint complies with the agreement exactly as it is written, and is willing to give quite a lot to make customers happy. If is customer suddenly can't afford the system, it is true that the account usually can't be cancelled, but measures are taken to try to make the burden a little lighter. As for billing, I admit it is confusing. I personally have had to put a customer on hold in order to call the billing department and have them explain it to me. However, each time, I have been able to get the issue either resolved or explained, and I have never "ripped off" a customer.
I have read through the contract a million times, and there are things about it I don't like, such as the length of the term and the auto-renewal policy. However, these things are stated quite visibly, and quite frankly, no one forces you to sign a contract. This is all about knowing what you're getting into. After reading complaints about other alarm companies, I see the same issue. People, you just got to read what you're signing. You can't blame a company for holding up their end of a bargain you agreed to.
Many of these comments are very upsetting and rather misleading. I have worked for the company for quite some time and remain with them because they are who they are. Currently there is no other Alarm Company/ Home Automation company that can even come close to Vivints Customer service and quality. If anyone knows anything about JD Power and they should know have incredibly picky and precise they are before they start handing out awards. Also if anyone knows anything the BBB they know, along with any business owner, that it is very deceiving. Companies actually have to fork out cash in order to get their review raised. I have noticed that many of the negative comments are from customers that purchased the system back in 2007-2008. Its obvious that reps work off of a commission and back then Vivint (APX) wasn't as strict with a lot of their policies as they are now. 3 years ago would I have worked for this company? Never! Today? There is no other company I would rather work for. Vivint is by far the leader in technology and customer service in the industry and they are for a reason. No other company has dared to start updating their equipment. Other companies may seem to be a good deal but the truth is your paying for an alarm that is probably uses technology that is over 10 years old. I am biased? Probably. However, when I go to work each day I feel very confident in the product that I am marketing and have never left a home feeling shady. Does that mean shady reps dont exist? Of course not. Read the Fine Print. Call Customer service. Talk to a Vivint neighbor. At the end of the day you find that no Company has a higher customer satisfaction rate then Vivint... And there really is no better deal. You get what you pay for and when it comes to protecting your family... everyone will want the best.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I wish that alarm companies could get a better reputation, but the way they conduct themselves is awful sometimes. I was just recently terminated from working in the inbound customer support department".
I am a hard worker and I followed all of their guidelines. I was let go because I disagreed with the way they did business, from door to door sales men who twisted the truth ( you can cancel anytime!) to how binding the contract was. If someone called in to cancel their agreement I had to tell them that their only options were to either transfer the agreement to someone else or payoff the amount ( usually over 1000 dollars). These were the only two options even if someone's home was foreclosed. So yes I did disagree, I think that a contract like that should be read wisely. I also had to gloss over the fact that their monthly payment wasn't a total gouge to their checking accounts. You pay for the equipment that they give away over the length of the contract. That payment also pays for a gigantic new corporate headquarters. The sales people although some are very professional, many were described by customers as dishonest and too aggressive. If you can stay away from any alarm company or stay local that's the way you'll get the best response time and the lowest price. They fired me because they were afraid I would pass this opinion on to customers or coworkers and they got what they asked for.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I am a new employee for APX Alarm however, friends of mine have been employed there as representatives for several years. I work in the monitoring department, as APX has recently taken that part of the industry upon its self. As a monitoring representative I get a first hand look into the ethics of the company because I am somewhat of a quality assurance rep as well".
Every time an alarm comes into our station, whether burglary, fire, medical, false or actual, we get to check to make sure that our customers are satisfied with their system. If they are having any problems with their systems, we can immediately transfer them over to a tech support or customer support representative to fix their problems. This, in my opinion is a good reason to go with a company who monitors their own alarms. We go through pretty rigorous training to make sure all of our customers are protected. Though about 98% of the alarms we process in a day are false, it still makes one feel good that we were able to stop a burgler or save someone's life. I know many companies can have some pushy and even quite shady sales people who are just concerned about their commission, but I would put my trust in this company because I know the people who operate behind the sales people are very caring and respectable people. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"APX Alarm does not use SAI for monitoring any longer (they haven't done so for a few years), they primarily keep accounts in house monitored through their strategic partner Criticom, however if there is a surplus of accounts the account may possibly be monitored by Monitronics but still serviced by APX".
We apologize for any complaints regarding any Representatives who may have been misleading. I know that in the office I work in (our National Inside Sales office) that we take honesty very seriously, and if a representative is dishonest with our customers, he doesn't last long. Unfortunately by the nature of our business model, we send out thousands of representatives each year, these representatives all have FBI background & reference checks done to ensure that we filter out as many dishonest individuals as possible. However, every year we get a few representatives that give the company a bad name. We are always improving measures to prevent this, such as having a Pre-install & Post-install survey to insure quality. listen carefully on this survey they will remind you of the Agreement terms as well as the rates.
My experience with APX has continually shown that we really are concerned for the welfare of our customers. That is why we have live customer service & tech support 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, unlike other companies which are only open 9-5 weekdays.
On another note, our national response time and all round service are going to impress you regardless of a previous company you've had service with.
Please if you have any problems with your service or with the integrity of your representative call 1-800-216-5232 to file a complaint. Our ability to monitor these representatives can be limited at times and our best solution to dealing with this is YOU the customer. I can assure you that if you contact us we will do everything within our power to insure that any wrong has been righted and that any representative that has been dishonest or misleading will be punished accordingly.
One final comment, please realize that any business on a national level is going to have a complaints. APX is constantly improving it's quality control (re: our representatives) and if it is any consolation, we have fired any representatives who have been warned and refused to uphold our standard of integrity.
To potential customer's reading this, realize that for every customer that does have a complaint there are hundreds if not thousands of customers who are very very satisfied with APX we get letters, calls, emails every day with customer who are very happy with their system. Unfortunately (with few exceptions), most people do not post on review websites unless they've had a problem. You will find this to be the case with almost anything you look up. The fact is if you are unhappy you will go out of your way to let everyone know about it, but if you are happy you may tell only a few people.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I am a tech for APX, and I have a few things I'd like to say to all the people unhappy with their system".
True we knock door to door and give you a strong pitch, but what would you have us do? We are gaining knowledge in good business and success, and possibly going on to lead bigger and better companies that the average joe could never learn from books or television.
Our aim isn't to scam people or ensnare them. Our aim is to protect you, your family, and your home. We can't do this for free, and it's not an evil business. I have no parents, and my oldest sister is married and gone. I have a 14 year old little sister I take care of by myself and I'm only 19. My story is pretty messed up, but apx gave me a job when there were none out there, and thanx to them I'll be bringing enough money home to take care of my little family.
If you feel you've been ripped off, or you are looking for knowledge before you buy, just think about the future and how things are going and when a desperate or plain ***hole person comes to break into your family's safe home who's going to stop them???? You? Your little sister alone at home? Your neighbors? We stop them everytime! We never just forced you to sign, you had a choice. If you thought about it and regretted it, next time put a bat by your door and cross your fingers it's not you next, cause thats the next best thing. Our company has some of the hardest workers out there. Most are young, but I have seen boys become men, girls become strong women and families feel safe.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I used to be a salesmen for APX Alarm. It sounded like a great summer job that help potential for big $$$ for me if I could be an effective salesman".
I sold an account on my first day...beginner's luck! I sold an account on my second day! Wow! My summer was getting off to a great start. However.....
I am a very honest person and so I started to wonder if what I was selling to other people was something that I would buy myself if I were a homeowner. I did some investigating and comparing prices and companies online...which has led me to this site.
The contracts I was selling were at a 'discounted' rate of $44.99 a month for a contract length of "just 60 months" (5 YEARS)! APX did have good equipment and good monitoring (as of this year, 2008 they are monitoring their own accounts) but I decided that I can no longer sell something that I would not buy myself. This is mainly because of the price of their monitoring. APX offers to give you a free system and install it at no charge but you end up paying out the nose because of the monitoring.
I quit working for APX and I am looking for a new job for a company that offers high quality monitoring at a more competitive monitoring rate.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I've been employed with APX Alarm as a service technician for over a year. I've been very satisfied with the company, they've been growing very rapidly and I've seen some very positive changes".
I realize that some customers have had issues with promises made by sales reps but I've experienced first hand that APX does make a strong effort to correct any issues that customers may have. The company was recently awarded an award from JD Powers & Associates for their customer service center. I'm currently on military leave and the company is still continuing to provide health benefits at no charge to my wife. I am a very satisfied employee and would recommend APX to anyone.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
"I hear many sales reps and customers that have concerns with paying a higher monitoring rate. I have found that with few exceptions, you pay for what you get".
I have an Apx alarm system in my home and have worked for the company for several years. The concept of getting equipment for "FREE", and then paying for the equipment is not a new one. For those that have ever recieved a free cell phone, this should be a familiar concept. I like the idea, and for most homeowners, simply writing a check for an alarm system is difficult. A quality system with superior monitoring at a fair price is appealing. I don't know that I would want to trust a company offering 8 dollars a month for service. I understand the costs associated with setting up and maintaining monitoring of ones home, and an 8 dollar plan doesn't make sense.